I was doing a spot of dyeing my Blended fabric. As I recall, that day was about 4 degrees Celsius, so it was a labour of love. 
About that time, I accidentally set my raised garden alight with hot ashes. Ooops.
And I was eating healthy roast vegetables. See the little purple things? They are Maori potatoes, and are purple all the way through, even when cooked.
Here's the "art' shot, of the ash tree branches full of snow against the evening sky.
Here it is at the height of the snowfall. The tree on the right is normally completely upright. I love this photo, it looks like it's shot in black and white.
The morning after! You can see the ash tree in the lower right of the photo. There's snow on them thar hills!
Whose footsteps are those? This morning, the snow has turned to ice and is all crunchy underfoot as the dogs go about their business.
And here's the vege garden out the back.
These plants are on the front deck. I'm hoping it'll snow for a while but I've taken the photos now in case it stops.
Driveway with car and poodle. The car lights are not on, they're just showing the reflection of the flash.
And here is the street view.
Here's the completed Naiad (except for binding - I hate doing the dull bits). I like the way the bit with the wavy horizontal quilting looks much lighter - it is meant to represent looking through water. 
And here is her cousin, the Dryad (wood nymph). Same method of construction with organza on top, but she is cut from a monoprinted cotton piece I did recently. I've used 3 different variegated cottons to quilt this one, and each segment has a slightly different pattern. I really enjoy quilting like this, as I am not a superb free motion quilter.
Here's the reverse - I like the backs of these too.
I also wanted to quilt using lines, so first I made some as my starting point:
Then I started to quilt the area outside the lines vertically, and the area inside would be horizontal. As Naiads are water nymphs, the lines needed to have curves and ripples in them.
This is where I got to by lunchtime. And here's the reverse:
It's a small piece, about 11 by 9 inches.
I've put up with a crappy haircut for the past 6 weeks, hadn't done anything about it due to tightening economic situation with my day job (the one that supports me) but it got to the point where I'd just had enough - I couldn't make my hair look good, no matter what I did, and it was affecting my self-esteem. Not good, when I'm having to try a bunch of new and different things to bring in more business, and I need all the help I can get.
Sophie liked my supermarket bags but wanted something more suited for a big city lawyer. That is, not garishly bright or multi-coloured hand dyes. I rummaged through my bought-for-clothing-originally fabric stash and came up with this red (possibly coarse linen)fabric, and the oriental trim. I then made the handles thinner and longer so it could be worn over the shoulder. The lining is grey suiting.
The result, as modelled by Sophie. Very tasteful and lawyerly. And suitable for carrying heavy law books. Today, it's going to carry lots of frozen meat from my freezer, non-perishable items from my pantry, like flavoured teas and instant coffee, and some yummy baking that Sophie's done to take back for her flatmates. The cost of living in the big city doesn't leave a lot left over for good food. The kids are all from Rotorua, a smaller city where we used to live, and they all like their food.
This weekend, I also started this feather-and-fan variation scarf. This is the same pattern as a jersey I picked up from an op shop (= Goodwill or thrift store) which I wear a lot and really like. I had no idea this pattern was so easy. It's not for me but for a friend as a birthday gift.
Following on from yesterday's supermarket-replacement bags, I decided to make something a bit more "arty". I decided to use some of my rust dyed fabric and make a rustbag. I chose this piece, which is fat quarter size, and was rusted with a tyre lever down the middle and artistically (!) arranged nails on the rest of it. Due to the restricted amount of fabric, I cut narrower handles and made the bag body shorter. For the band, I used some unexciting rust dyed fabric that I'd previously over dyed in browns with the intention of using it as accents or trim. 
Here's the end result. The bag stands about 10 inches to the top of the band, and I've reinforced the handles by sewing them to the bag. I won't be carrying heavy groceries in this, so the smaller handles won't be a problem. It's lined with a piece of light greyish painted fabric.
Here's Bag #2 alongside the iron so you can see the size. These bags are lined and interfaced, so are strong enough to stand up by themselves. I'm making them out of fabric that's been sitting in my stash for years. The linings are made from old hand-dyes. It takes about an hour to make one.
...from both excessive plastic bag use, and ghastly supermarket eco bags. This is the first of a number of tote bags that I plan to make to carry groceries etc.
Speaking as someone who has rather more flesh than I'd like, I'm delighted to see this lifesize painting by Lucien Freud (grandson of Sigmund) has just become the highest value painting ever sold, going for a mere US$33.6 million to an undisclosed bidder. The blog heading is mine - the painting is actually called "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" - the model was doing that job at the time.
Here's Cass in his regalia after getting degrees #2 and #3 (architecture) with Hattie (aka Red Delicious). Don't they make a lovely pair?
Hanmer Springs is a small town nestled close to the foothills of the Southern Alps. It's very popular due to its hot springs. This is the 1937 cottage that I rented for the weekend. That's my friend Bronwen coming around the corner.
Autumn is very beautiful here as there are lots of deciduous trees.
Looking up Conical Hill in the township.
We drove up over the hills to Molesworth Station, the largest farm in New Zealand, which is owned by the Department of Conservation. This is the view back over the plains from where we'd come.
This is the terrain of Molesworth, which is a high country station. There wasn't much snow yet.
You can see how rugged these hills are.
Poodles enjoying a run in the tussock beside the river. It was a lovely day.
The poodles and Bronwen's poodle/bichon cross, Buddy, who is mainly poodle except for his tail. They all got along well. There were a lot of wet feet.
Looking back up the river. I love this scenery.
So here's a bit more of it! A lovely place to go for soothing and nurturing. And wonderful to have to make no harder decisions than "where shall we go for coffee?"
But wait! There's more! First up is a completely gratuitous sunrise. Just because.
And then there's this lovely skein of sock wool that I somehow scored from Vintage Purls through my blog friend Stell of Knit, Knit, Frog . Stell is also a Kiwi, as is the Vintage Purls shop. I hadn't come across it before. Am I lucky or what?
Today in the mail I received my first copy of Interweave Knits which I have started to subscribe to.
I have been totally seduced by the photos in this book, and I just want to make them into artwork. I succumbed at lunchtime and bought it (all $90 of it) - it's a large heavy book, with the most stunning photos imaginable. I'll share some with you next week. After buying it, I read Donald's comment on my last post and thought, yes, I AM very influenced by the landscape around me. I guess I hadn't realised how much.
New Zealand is indeed a beautiful country, especially down south. No-one captures this better than my friend Donald (this is one of his photos that I've "borrowed").
I must have taken this photo on a strange camera setting as it's very grainy - however, you can see the snow on the foothills of the Southern Alps that I can see from upstairs. We had a brisk frost this morning, so that put an end to the tomatoes.
Hooray!
